WASHINGTON -- More than 4 in 10 of American voters said President Donald Trump was the worst U.S. chief executive going back to World War II, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Trump was named by 41 percent in the Quinnipiac University poll. Barack Obama was second with 21 percent and Richard Nixon, who resigned due to the Watergate scandal, was third with 10 percent.

Obama, however, was also a close second on the list of best presidents, with 24 percent. President Ronald Reagan led the pack with 28 percent while Presidents John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton tied for third with 10 percent. Seven percent of voters said Trump was the best president since World War II.

"In 73 years, 13 men have governed from behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office and none of them have done so with less admiration from the American people," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.

Trump's approval ratings have been in negative territory since taking office, and only 38 percent approved of his performance in office in the Quinnipiac survey, with 56 percent disapproving. That is statistically unchanged from last month.

In a Monmouth University poll also released Wednesday, Trump received 39 percent positive and 54 percent negative ratings for his job performance.

And a Marist College poll released Thursday gave Trump a 42 percent job approval rating, his highest ever in that survey, with 50 percent disapproving.

Contributing to Trump's disapproval ratings are the negative views of the Republican tax plan. Half of U.S. voters, 50 percent, disapproved of the new law, which initially gives 43 percent of its benefits to the richest 5 percent of taxpayers, according to the progressive Tax Policy Center.

Despite some salary increases and one-time bonuses to employees, most of the corporate tax breaks are going to buy back stock, primarily benefitting the wealthy. The richest 10 percent of Americans own 80 percent of securities, according to a study by Edward N. Wolff, an economics professor at New York University.

Corporations have spent $6 billion on employees and $171 billion on buying their own stock, according to CNN.

Even so, more than one-third of U.S. adults, 37 percent, said they expected their taxes to go up, with less than one-fourth, 23 percent, expecting a tax decrease.

"Republican leaders were sitting pretty at the beginning of the year as it looked like public opinion on the tax reform plan was swinging in their favor," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

"But there hasn't been any further movement after that initial bump. A key sticking point is that only 1 in 4 Americans expect to see any net gain in their federal tax returns."

The Quinnipiac poll of 1,122 voters was conducted March 3-5 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The Monmouth survey of 803 adults was conducted March 2-5 and had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points. The Marist poll of 1,050 adults was conducted March 5-6 and had a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.